TAXUS II Clinical Trial Follow-Up Data Demonstrates Excellent Long-Term Outcomes at Four Years

- Overall Cardiac Death Rate for Combined Bare-Metal Control Group Equivalent to TAXUS Slow- and Moderate-Release Formulations

Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) today announced four-year follow-up data from its TAXUS II paclitaxel-eluting stent system clinical trial. The data demonstrated that the safety and efficacy advantages associated with the TAXUS(TM) stent system were maintained at four years. The Company made the announcement at the annual European Society of Cardiology/World Congress of Cardiology 2006 in Barcelona, Spain.

"The long-term results from the TAXUS II study speak to the remarkable effectiveness of paclitaxel-eluting technology in the treatment of coronary artery disease," said Professor Antonio Colombo, M.D., Columbus Hospital and San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, the trial's Principal Investigator. "The TAXUS II study data itself is outstanding with low target lesion revascularization (TLR) rates, low cardiac death rates, and no new stent thrombosis from three to four years. This technology has truly changed the way physicians treat coronary artery disease."

"We are extremely pleased with the TAXUS II results, which represent an important milestone in the evolving story of paclitaxel-eluting stent technology," said Jeff Goodman, President Boston Scientific International. "TAXUS II is the first large-scale TAXUS clinical trial undertaken by Boston Scientific and continues to break new ground at four years. Backed by excellent long-term safety and efficacy results from TAXUS II and other TAXUS clinical trials, the TAXUS stent system continues to maintain its leadership position in the markets we serve while offering physicians and their patients a best-in-class treatment for coronary artery disease."

Excellent efficacy results

The long-term TAXUS II results suggest that the TAXUS stent system stably decreases restenosis rates as demonstrated by significant reductions in TLR. TAXUS II results reported a low overall TLR rate of 7.2 percent in the slow-release formulation and 3.7 percent in the moderate-release formulation, as compared to 15.7 percent in the control group (P=0.0004), resulting in an

Outstanding long-term safety results

TAXUS II, the first TAXUS clinical trial to evaluate late clinical safety and efficacy outcomes of both the slow- and moderate-release formulations, reported no stent thrombosis from three to four years. The study also reported a low overall cardiac death rate of 1.6 percent for both the slow- and moderate-release formulations up to four years, which showed no statistical difference when compared to the combined bare-metal control overall cardiac death rate of 1.5 percent. The overall myocardial infarction rate was

The TAXUS II trial is a 536-patient, 15-country, randomized, double-blind, controlled study of the safety and efficacy of a TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent, in which two sequential cohorts of patients with standard risk, de novo coronary artery lesions were treated with different dose formulations.

Clinical follow-up at four years in TAXUS II included 96.3 percent of the patients initially enrolled (516/536).

Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices whose products are used in a broad range of interventional medical specialties. For more information, please visit www.bostonscientific.com or

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The Company wishes to caution the reader of this press release that actual results may differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and may be adversely affected by, among other things, risks associated with the commercialization of new technologies, competitive offerings, intellectual property and other

SOURCE Boston Scientific Corporation

CONTACT: Geraldine Varoqui,

Boston Scientific PR Manager International,

Tel: +49-2102-489-461,

[email protected] OR

Tracy Paul, BSC press office,

Tel: +44-20-7413-3101,

[email protected]

Web site: http://www.bostonscientific.com

http://www.publicaster.com/info/bostonscientific/esc2006 /

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